Red Snow by Will Dean – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

TWO BODIES

One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who’s really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?

TWO COINS

Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man’s eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.

TWO WEEKS

Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who’s to say the Ferryman will let her go?

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. My plan to read Dark Pines before reading this sequel didn’t work out but I had no problems reading this as a standalone. There are references to a previous case but no spoilers and I had no problem with not knowing any characters. I also avoided reading the synopsis. All I knew about the series was what I had seen on social media and what I learned from attending an event that featured the author last year.

I have to mention the climate. Temperatures as low as -22 are not something I can imagine. The impact that the weather conditions and the short days had on people’s lives. That people and animals can freeze to death. It gave me plenty to think about when I was outside shivering at zero degrees.

The characters, especially Tuva, all stand out as being original. Tuva is one who has made her way on to my favourite heroine list. She is funny, warm, rum loving and full of guilt over what she never said to her mother when she had the chance. I enjoyed reading about her deafness, the downside to her hearing aids, her frustration at other peoples obsession with them and her ability to lip read was a technique she used to her advantage. She isn’t the only character I liked. There was also the Grimberg family, especially Cici, and the wood cutting sisters.

Unusually for me, I didn’t try and solve the murder as I read. I just concentrated on the characters, the weather and the humour. I have never seen characters so visually described before. Pissy Knickers, Cheekbones and Facelift are just a handful of them.

I will be reading Dark Pines soon but I really hope that there will be book three.